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First Steps
On the second (or was it third?) month, Helena was put in a team of other people and told to complete a challenge. She had never seen any of them before - not that they were allowed to talk to each other under normal circumstances. They were this time. Helena was told their names, but she couldn't remember them. Most of the were friendly towards her, but there were a few who were generall apthetic. The first objective was survival through teamwork. They were taken to a room with four blank walls containing rectangular cushions, and were instructed to stay alive. Helena had thought that the team would have to live in there, until one of the walls began closing in on them. For three hours, the European boy ordered everyone to have their foot against one wall, and the cushion against the other. When the wall finally moved back, the caretakers returned and took him away. Helena never saw him again after that, but it was to be expected. The second objective was speed. They were split into pairs, and each pair was taken to a long room, with a table on the other end. On the table, they were informed, was an airsoft pistol. The person who reached it first would aim at the second and fire, ending the exercise. It was the fastest Helena had ever run in her life. The sprinting courses and exercises had been tough, but that day was when Helena relaised how fast she could run. The moment she grabbed the gun, and spun around to see her adversary closing in, she realised something was wrong. The gun was heavier than the airsoft ones they used in target practice. Too late, she pulled the trigger, and her opponent collapsed in a heap, dead. The third objective was unknown to Helena, as she was taken by the caretakers to who they called "the Overseer". After many white, unmarked corridors she was put in an office, where a smiling man looked at her from across a table. He showed her the video of her previous test, and asked her about running. When she couldn't answer, he would just chuckle and smile again, and moved on to the next inquiry. Helena thought it must have been a few hours before the Overseer said that she was still in shock, and asked the caretakers to take her back to her quarters. Helena never saw the same group again, and she didn't care. After the door closed behind her and locked her inside, as the PA system began announcing the curfew was in a few minutes, Helena became aware of the book on her desk, entitled "A Brave New World" by Ardous Huxley. She picked it up, and a slip of paper fell out from behind the cover. In neat cursive writing were the words: "Your reward for taking the first steps to success." Helena sat down, holding back tears, and opened the book. She was still reading when the guards came to remind her that curfew was in effect.